Who won the first debate between President Barack Obama and Republican presidential Mitt Romney? That's up for you to decide, but Wednesday night's spirited exchange did bring their differences over economic issues and the role of government into clearer focus.

Here's a look at those differences in three areas that are important to business owners and executives:

The economy

Obama emphasized how bad things were when he took office, and how we've "begun to fight our way back." The president said his approach is based on "economic patriotism" -- that America does best when the middle class does best. That's why he said it's important to invest in education, training workers, and changing the tax code in ways that help small businesses and businesses that invest in the U.S., not overseas.

Romney, however, said Obama's policies amount to "trickle-down government" because the president wants the federal government to play a bigger role in the economy. Plus, Obama's approach isn't working -- 23 million Americans are out of work, 47 million people are on food stamps, small businesses aren't growing, and the startup rate for new businesses has hit a 30-year low, Romney said.

"Going forward with the status quo is not going to cut it for the American people," he said.

Taxes

Romney seemed to catch Obama off guard on this issue. The president attacked Romney for proposing a $5 trillion tax cut, mostly benefiting high-income Americans. That's mathematically impossible without "dumping costs" on the middle class or further increasing the deficit., Obama said. Romney said Obama didn't have his facts straight -- he hasn't proposed a tax cut of anywhere near that magnitude.

"Virtually everything he said about my tax plan is false," Romney said.

"I will not add to the deficit with my tax plan," he said.

"I will not, under any circumstances, raise taxes on middle-income families."

Instead, Romney said he wants to lower tax rates and broaden the tax base by eliminating deductions. He wouldn't reduce the share of taxes paid by high-income individuals, he said. But it's important to lower income tax tax rates, especially for small businesses, because profits at most small businesses flow through to individuals for tax purposes. The lower the tax rate, the more workers small businesses can hire, Romney said.

"For me, this is about jobs," he said.

Obama acted like somebody had given him the wrong talking points. Romney, he said, has been running on his tax plan for 18 months, and "now he's saying his big bold idea is never mind."

The president said it's just not possible to come up with enough deductions to end in order to make up for the money that would be lost by lowering tax rates. He also noted that he's cut taxes for small businesses 18 times. Those tax cuts, however, were either temporary or were so limited in scope that few small businesses took advantage of them.

Under his plan, 97 percent of Americans wouldn't see higher taxes, but he would ask that families making more than $250,000 a year return to the higher tax rate that was in effect when President Bill Clinton was in office -- a time of robust job growth, he noted.

Romney, however, said that the 3 percent who would be hit by higher taxes under Obama's plan include business owners who employ 25 percent of America's workers.

"I don't want to cost jobs," Romney said.

Health care reform

Romney outlined four major problems with Obamacare (a term the president said he likes): It's too expensive, it took $713 billion out of Medicare, it created an unelected board that will tell people what kind of treatments they can get, and it will lead to millions of people having to change their insurance plans whether they want to or not.

Obama, however, said health care reform addressed a real problem for Americans who worried about going bankrupt if they got sick or couldn't get coverage if they had a pre-existing condition. Obamacare is not a government takeover of health care -- that unelected board that Romney talked about is specifically prohibited from defining what treatments people can receive, he said. People can keep their own private insurance plans, but the new law means insurers "can't jerk you around," the president said. Plus, the new insurance exchanges that are scheduled to be up and running in 2014 will essentially set up a group plan for the individual market, enabling people to get more affordable coverage.

The irony of this debate, Obama said, is that Obamacare is modeled after a reform that worked "really well" -- the health care reform plan that Romney enacted in Massachusetts.

Romney, however, said the Massachusetts plan was passed through a bipartisan effort, whereas Obama pushed through his plan "without a single Republican vote." Plus, the Massachusetts plan didn't raise taxes, Romney said, whereas Obamacare included $1 trillion in tax increases. It also didn't put people into the position of losing the insurance they currently have, he said.